Cisco sales and profits drop

Cisco Systems saw its net income fall 55 per cent to $1.4 billion in the three months to January, largely due to a charge over faulty memory chips. Revenue fell nearly 8 per cent to $11.2 billion.

Cisco has also been struggling with weak demand for products such as internet routers from emerging markets. The company forecast revenues to fall up by 6 per cent to 8 per cent in the current quarter.

Cisco chairman and chief executive John Chambers said the company’s financial health remained strong. “I’m pleased with the progress we’ve made managing through the technology transitions of cloud, mobile, security and video… The major market transitions are networking centric and as the Internet of Everything becomes more important to business, cities and countries, Cisco is uniquely positioned to help our customers solve their biggest business problems.”

Orders from China, Brazil, India, Mexico and Russia have fallen in recent months, as the rise of cloud computing dents demand for hardware.